seabirds and sunshine

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

NEW ZEALAND | Thursday, 4 July 2013 | Views [445] | View Larger Image

The curious dark brown eyes of a Grey-headed albatross great me on my way to check on our study birds. This bird is likely still too young to breed and is visiting the colony in search of a nesting territory and a mate.

The view from the southwest point of Campbell Island, a small island in the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic. Rats were eradicated here xx years ago and megaherbs, like those in the foreground flourish. The island is the breeding ground for 6 albatross species, 2 penguins species, along with other seabirds, endemic land birds and the endangered New Zealand Sea Lion. As a biologist it was my home for four months, while studying the at-sea movements of albatrosses using miniature GPS data loggers.

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Stepping onto a Brown Skua territory, the loud calls of the pair tell me that their eggs have hatched and somewhere among the yellow bulbinella flowers there are two downy grey chicks. In a world without mammalian predators skuas have little to fear as they prowl the penguin and albatross colonies.

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seabirds and sunshine

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

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